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Trump International Golf Links – Golf at any cost?

Trump International Golf Links is open and like many with a
professional interest in the game I would normally want to know how this new
links has turned out. Sadly, since seeing Anthony Baxter’s documentary ‘You’ve
been Trumped’, I only want the wind to blow constantly from the South so the
previously northerly mobile dune system might bury the place.

The lack of respect, intimidation, bullying and total
disregard for the welfare of his neighbours that Trump has shown is repugnant.
The deplorable treatment that his organisation has meted out to Michael Forbes,
David Milne, Susan Munro and Molly Forbes in the name of golf development is
sickening to me, and should be to others who earn their living from this game.

What concerns me is the unusual silence from the golf
industry and its press since the screening of Baxter’s expose, which, given the
controversial nature of this film is somewhat disconcerting. Other than the
usual round of golf course reviews, written by golf journalists who have played
the course on a PR freebie, I cannot find any industry comment on the Baxter
film or its content. This lack of comment is disappointing as I cannot see how
Donald Trump’s approach to the realisation of this project can have done
anything but damage to the reputation of golf as a sport. A sport that I have
spent most of my working life in and who’s reputation in the wider world I care
a lot for.

Those that see golf as an elitist sport, played by the
‘haves’, who section off tracks of land for their own exclusive pleasure, must
be saying ‘I told you so’. To their eternal credit I did not hear the home
owners, who were the subjects of the documentary, adopt this attitude and blame
golf or golfers. Even though they were, and still may be, under treat of
compulsory purchase, severed water supplies, land grab, close up high bunding
and security shadowing. Thankfully it is Trump, those in his employ and those
seen to be in support of him, namely Alex Salmond, the SNP and Grampian Police that
are the focus of their justifiable ire.

In the last twenty years, golf and its stewards have had to
work very hard to prove its sound environmental and social credentials. Trump’s
‘build it so that I cannot see the outside world’ approach is totally
counterproductive to all these efforts. What makes Trump’s aggressive approach
to obtaining exclusivity even more polarised is, that it is taking place in the
home of golf, Scotland, where more than any other country in the world, the
game is accessible to all.

I do not believe that any golfer with a conscience, having
watched ‘You’ve been Trumped’, could give the Trump organisation a £200
greenfee and enjoy their round. They may
only be small in number, they may only been seen as small people by their large
loud neighbour, but they are people, people who I think are far more important
than a game of golf.

I have no intention of supporting Trump
International Golf Links by remaining silent and fully support the actions of
Tripping Up Trump. As a person earning my living and reputation out of the game
of golf I am not prepared to support golf at any cost.

Comments

Trump International Golf Links – Golf at any cost?

Trump International Golf Links is open and like many with a
professional interest in the game I would normally want to know how this new
links has turned out. Sadly, since seeing Anthony Baxter’s documentary ‘You’ve
been Trumped’, I only want the wind to blow constantly from the South so the
previously northerly mobile dune system might bury the place.